Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to increase imports of American natural gas has been branded as “expensive hypocrisy” in light of his decision to ban fracking in the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak and President Joe Biden will announce the UK-US Energy Security and Affordability Partnership, in which the United States will seek to export at least nine to ten billion cubic metres of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Britain over the next year. The deal was struck in the hopes of preventing energy blackouts in the UK as well as further diminishing reliance on Russian gas.
In a joint statement ahead of the official announcement, Biden and Sunak said per the Daily Mail: “During this global energy crisis, brought on by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it is more important than ever for allied countries to deepen their cooperation to ensure resilient international systems which reflect our shared values.”
“Together the UK and US will ensure the global price of energy and the security of our national supply can never again be manipulated by the whims of a failing regime,” Prime Minister Sunak added.
“We have the natural resources, industry and innovative thinking we need to create a better, freer system and accelerate the clean energy transition. This partnership will bring down prices for British consumers and help end Europe’s dependence on Russian energy once and for all.”
The deal has drawn criticism given that the vast majority of the American gas that will come to the UK was taken out of the ground via fracking, while Sunak used one of his first acts as prime minister to reinstate the ban on domestic fracking. The government’s own estimates have said that the natural gas deposits at Bowland Shale could provide 50 years of energy at current usage, however, the gas will stay under the ground as the Conservative government pursues green projects at home and imports fossil fuels from abroad.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice, who has been a leading advocate for the return of fracking in Britain, said that the plan demonstrated “expensive hypocrisy” noting that the transport of gas across the Atlantic will only add more CO2 to the atmosphere and that it will send more UK money and jobs abroad.
“The negligent politicians don’t want to keep our jobs here, they don’t want to keep our money here, they want to virtue signal. The only zero will be the amount of money left in our bank accounts,” he said in reference to the government’s Net Zero plan to eliminate carbon emissions by the year 2050.
Energy analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, Andy Mayer said: ‘The UK will pay a premium to import US fracked gas, while sitting on 50 to 100 years of our own reserves. In return Mr Biden and Mr Sunak will get to talk shop about future renewables, nuclear, and energy saving.”
Charles McAllister, director of UK Onshore Oil and Gas, added: ‘”It is the height of hypocrisy for the Government to disallow shale gas development in the UK whilst chasing deals with the US to buy their shale gas. Gas imports do not offer the economic, environmental or geopolitical merits a domestic industry would offer.
“The Government’s strategy is clearly to offshore our environmental responsibilities and economic opportunities at the expense of UK households, businesses and taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, Sunak’s government has lifted the moratorium on constructing more onshore wind energy farms in Britain. While wind and solar are often touted as more environmentally friendly, the reality is that much of the environmental degradation that comes with the production of such machines is experienced in countries such as Communist China.
In order to generate electricity, wind turbines are reliant on industrial strength magnets, which are comprised of rare earth minerals such as neodymium, which is predominantly mined in China.
A report in 2011 found that the mining of neodymium resulted in the formation of a toxic lake outside the Inner Mongolian city of Baotou. Neighbouring villagers saw cancer rates soar and children were even reported to have been born with soft bones.
“The reality is that, as Britain flaunts its environmental credentials by speckling its coastlines and unspoiled moors and mountains with thousands of wind turbines, it is contributing to a vast man-made lake of poison in northern China,” the report stated.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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